


My Body Count Is Higher Than You Think

by M_o_t_h, noturprxtxg



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Body Swap AU, Co-Written, F/M, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Possibly discontinued, Unfinished, go read noturpxtxg's fanfic its good, i lied this probably wont be finished, idk if this has been done before for this ship but it probably has, its a motive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25794658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_o_t_h/pseuds/M_o_t_h, https://archiveofourown.org/users/noturprxtxg/pseuds/noturprxtxg
Summary: Shuichi wakes up in Kokichi's room ...But not like that.He wakes up not only in Kokichi's room, he wakes up in his body too.(First chapter is by Moth, the rest will probably be taken over by noturprxtxg)
Relationships: Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Iruma Miu & Oma Kokichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 36
Kudos: 180





	1. Oh great, thanks a lot Monokuma.

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! this is my first ao3 post so please be gentle with criticism if any. I'm scared I'm going to mess something up with formatting hsssjkgjshskgg

The morning alarm pulled Shuichi out of his sleep. He rubbed his eyes, a bit out of it at the moment. His head was a bit too foggy to notice the scenery change until after the morning announcement that declared it was 7 am. 

He was a bit confused and dazed still, and looking around the room only made the confusion stronger. There were many weird things in this room, an upside-down Amami wax statue? A whiteboard with the faces of his friends, along with doodles and writing next to the pictures. This obviously wasn’t his room, so whose was it? 

Maybe he was imagining all of the scenery. It could be a symptom of grief? Hallucinations?

He quickly walked to the bathroom to splash his face. Perhaps it would be better to ignore what he saw to not make the others wait for his approval. 

What he saw in the bathroom mirror confused him. It confused him a lot more than the weird wax statue, the whiteboard, and the other weird things that he saw in the room. He really was hallucinating, wasn’t he? Obviously, because there wouldn’t be Ouma instead of him in the mirror. “What the hell?” 

He took a few steps backward and rubbed his eyes. Nope, the mirror still showed Ouma. Maybe it was broken? Or maybe some sort of stupid trick? That seemed to be the only logical statement he could come up with. He decided to head to the dining hall instead of worry about the odd predicament he was in, however, maybe that wasn’t the best idea. 

He obviously couldn’t go out in the clothes he was wearing. He opened up the closet in the bizarre room he found himself in. He was almost surprised to see Ouma's clothes in there. _Almost_ because he already saw Ouma in the reflection of the mirror. He wondered if the clothes would even fit him, seeing as they were Ouma's clothes. He shrugged and changed into them. Surprisingly, they fit. He would have to return them to Ouma later. 

After making sure everything was on correctly in the strange mirror, he walked out the door to see he was in Ouma’s room. It would make sense that he would have some type of weird mirror that only reflected himself in his room, but why did Shuichi wake up in there? Perhaps Ouma put him in there for some silly prank. That seemed very Ouma-like of him to do. What about that mirror trick? Was it even possible?

He shook his head. None of that was really worth worrying about right then, he would just have to ask Ouma about it when he next saw him. He hoped he would show up to the dining hall…

While on his way to the dining hall, there were a few things he had noticed. The first was how tall the hallways felt. He wanted to label it as him being tired or hallucinations, but then he noticed something else. The bandage wrapped around one of his fingers. He didn’t recall getting injured in the past few days…

The third thing he noticed was his hair. His hair was a dark purple color and it was a lot longer and textured differently, and he only noticed after raking his hand through his hair. “What the hell?” He spoke quietly to himself for the second time today. Oh, and there was the final thing he noticed. The voice that came out of his mouth wasn’t his own. 

_Okay, there is something clearly wrong here. I just need to act calm and-_

Oh. That was the dining hall... That meant he had to go inside... but just as he was about to open the door, it opened itself. 

Who came out of the room was Momota. Momota glared at him. “What are you doing here Ouma? You finally decided to start showing up to morning meetings?” The words had a sort of bite to them, but Shuichi was too confused to notice.

_Ouma?_

He guessed he stood there blankly for a few seconds too long because Momota raised an eyebrow. “...Hello?” 

He mentally facepalmed. He must be dreaming, because he couldn’t be Ouma, quite obviously. Momota walked away after a while, probably almost as confused as he was. However, he seemed to be a lot more annoyed than usual. Perhaps he was having a bad day, much like he was. 

He decided to turn away from the dining hall for now. It was probably a better idea to think over this, contrary to what he had decided before. He walked down the hall and his feet eventually took him to the… Casino? He didn't visit often, so he was surprised that was the place his legs took him. He shrugged and entered the well-lit place. He could mull over his thoughts while he played some casino games he supposed. 

_So… I woke up in Ouma’s room… I look like Ouma… And I sound like him too._ He didn’t need to be a detective to figure that out. However, he wished that being a detective would help him figure out why he seemed to be in Ouma’s body.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the bear that appeared in front of him. 

“Kokichi... Why aren’t you at the dining hall? I specifically asked in the morning announcement for _everybody_ to be there.” The bear glared, holding up his clawed paw menacingly. 

He almost didn’t respond. How would Ouma respond? “Hmm, I didn’t feel like it!” Was that good? It seemed like something the ‘supreme leader’ would say. 

“Puhuhu~! Wow, Shuichi! You really are getting into character well!” The bear laughed before disappearing, leaving Shuichi with even more thoughts about the whole him in Ouma’s body thing.

_Monokuma knows about this?_ He figured he should go to the dining hall before Monokuma got angrier. _Could this possibly be a motive of sorts? But how is this even possible?_ The questions kept coming and coming. 

It was like him to be deep in his thoughts, but not so that he wouldn't notice other people in the hallway. He slammed into the person. He wouldn’t say he flew backward, but he was on his butt rubbing his forehead after the ordeal. 

His gaze darted to the person he bumped into to see… None other than himself. “What the hell?” He almost screamed. He was looking at himself. The person he _bumped into_ was none other than himself. His expression- or rather the person who was in _his_ body’s expression shifted from confusion to a false annoyed face. 

“Ouma-kun… You were supposed to be in the dining hall. Now our announcement has been delayed by your absence.” It was a weird impression of himself. He wouldn't have responded that way, it was far too cold of a response. 

He was debating whether or not to respond like himself or Ouma. He racked his brain for ideas. But before he could say anything he was being dragged into the dining hall. He looked at the imposter of himself, scanning the face for an expression. The not-him looked conflicted and confused before masking a flat expression. 

“I've got Ouma-kun.” The fake-Shuichi said, releasing his grip on him. He looked to everyone else in the group, noticing that Momota had returned from his bathroom break. Oh. He should probably respond, right? 

How did Ouma-kun do that stupid laugh of his? “Nishihihi~ I was very busy in the casino!” He let his arms sit behind his head, mimicking Ouma’s carefree attitude. 

He got a few glares sent his direction before the remaining Monokubs appeared. “Rise and shine ursine!” However, only Monophanie said it, which caused her to enter a fit about how their cubs would have a father who wouldn't remember them. Oh right, he almost forgot about their weird incest thing before they showed up. They were bickering before Momota cleared his throat almost threateningly. 

“Ah right!” Monophanie spoke up. “There's a new motive!” She said cheerfully as if the motive she was talking about wasn't for his friends to brutally murder each other. However, the statement did strengthen his theory that the situation involving him being in Ouma’s body had something to do with the motive. 

“A few people have been body swapped!” She exclaimed giddily. _Oh. So that's what happened._ There was a moment of silence before the room burst into one of the loudest states it had been in since the last motive.

He expected Momota to speak up, however when he brought his gaze to the astronaut, the other only glared on. It unnerved him like he was looking at a totally different person. He was going to ask if he was okay, before realizing that he wasn't himself. 

It took him a few moments to register that the term ‘body-swap’ meant that Ouma was in _his_ body. He looked at himself, or rather, the person in his body. Before he could read the person next to him, Monophanie spoke up again.

“Since Monotaro isn’t voicing the next part, I suppose I’ll just have to tell you myself!” She sent a quick glare to the other bear before continuing. “If you kill someone while in the other person's body, they will be The Blackened! However, if you get away with it, you get to go home!” She acted as if it was a win-win situation. “Of course, after a murder has happened, the people body-swapped will go back to normal! And by that I mean, right after a murder, not after the announcement.” She clarified. 

“Oh, I almost forgot! You can’t tell _anyone_ that you’re body swapped until the trial. Unless of course, that’s the person you’re swapped with!” She chirped out. She gave a few moments for everyone to register the motive, before she sang out “So long, bear well!” dragging Monotaro with her.

Shuichi didn’t really know what to say at this moment. He racked his brain and tried to think about what Ouma would say in this situation. It was quite dumb he couldn’t think of all this out on the spot, especially after he stayed up night after night analyzing everyone, and potential motives. He couldn’t really help it, his brain itched for something to do. 

So he settled for an Ouma-like giggle. “Nishihihi~ I guess everyone’s going to try to find out whose body-swapped with who! While I would love to stay for something so entertaining, I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment!” He giggled again. He felt his nerves aflame, what if they were able to tell it was Shuichi? He would surely be a target, so unfamiliar in this state.

He attempted another laugh and waved as he made his way out of the dining hall. As soon as he shut the door behind him he exhaled loudly. He hoped they couldn’t hear him in there. He was doing okay so far, but what if he slipped up in his acting? What if someone tried to kill him because he was Ouma? He knew Ouma wasn’t well-liked, but he didn’t know if someone would go as far as to kill him. 

He shook his head, still leaning on the wall outside of the dining hall. This was a _Killing Game_ , people have already died before, and out of the group, Ouma was the one most disliked. Shit. He really hoped he wouldn’t get Ouma killed just because he’s disoriented and unfamiliar in the body. 

He realized they would soon wrap up their meeting, and he didn’t want to be caught just sitting around when he said he had matters to attend to. So he walked to his room. He was about to open the door before he realized it would be odd for him to enter the room not assigned to his body, so he walked to Ouma’s room and entered instead. 

He took in the scenery once more and sat on the bed. This was a really weird room. There was so much to unpack in the room. Many key pieces of evidence from other trials were in the room. He didn’t really understand why he would keep them, because they were all from past cases. Maybe he thought they held some other important clues and would help them in the future. 

Other objects littered the room. He moved his gaze to the whiteboard again. He moved closer and began to examine it. He read the words describing how he viewed the other students. He noted his own was trustworthy with a question mark after it. He was tempted to erase the question mark, but he didn’t want to temper with the stuff in Ouma’s room, as he wouldn’t want Ouma to do the same. However, he probably looked through all his stuff already, if not, he was going to soon. 

He decided to revisit the idea of how they actually did the body-swap. After a while, he stopped trying to figure it out because it made his brain hurt. The questions still filled his brain. He decided to sleep it off because really that was the only answer he was able to make for himself. Maybe when he awoke he would magically have a solution for all of this. He doubted it, but it was worth a try. 

  
  


He awoke to the sound of the doorbell ringing, who could that be?

He made his way to the door and opened it to see Iruma. What was she doing here? Did she and Ouma hang out a lot? He didn’t know, so he just tried to respond in the same way he’d seen the two interact before. 

Before he could answer, she let herself in. He almost raised an eyebrow at that, were the two that close? 

“Wow Ouma, your place looks like a wreck.” She laughed and he realized he probably shouldn’t have let her in. Shit. 

“ _My_ room looks like a mess? Have you seen your own?” He wasn’t sure how comfortable the two were with each other, but he knew he didn’t want to start badmouthing Iruma right in her face. She scoffed at that. 

“Well if you’re going to be a little bitch, then I guess I won’t tell you about what happened at the meeting after you left.” She bit back. She looked at the whiteboard and her face grew red and erased the words written under her name. The words were ‘stupid slut’. 

“I don’t need you to find out what happened at the meeting! I have eyes everywhere!” He scoffed. He didn’t believe that Ouma really had eyes everywhere, but he did recall him saying something like that in the past. He refrained from responding to the whiteboard’s words or her calling him a little bitch. 

She stared at him for a moment before laughing. “Right, a pea-brained whore like _you_ has eyes everywhere. Anyways, they basically just talked about how Mr astronaut was acting a bit odd, even though he was right there. Everyone is a suspect for the body-swap. I mean except you. I doubt anyone could pull off your personality.” She laughed at the end as if she was imagining someone trying to mimic Ouma. Little did she know the imposter of him was standing in the same room as her. 

“Anyway, I have things to work on. Don’t overdo it, fuckin shota.” He didn’t really get the implication until a few moments after she exited the room. His face burned. That would be so weird to do while in someone else's body. He didn’t want to think about doing something as lewd as that so he just lied down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. 

  
  


He didn’t remember dozing off again until he was abruptly woken by the familiar dings of the nighttime announcement. Oh shit! He had to go to the workout! He jumped out of bed before remembering his little predicament. That meant he couldn’t go to workouts. . . He sat back down on the bed. Momota would probably bring Ouma anyways, so he didn’t need to tell him about it. 

He didn’t know what to do until he heard the doorbell ring for the second time today.


	2. It’s Hard Being An Emo Boy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! I’m the new author, Zee (noturprxtxg)! After Moth expressed her never ending desire to never update this fic again because she was having trouble writing chapter two, I offered to become a co-creator! I’m pretty sure the rest of this fic will be written by me, but maybe Moth will update it a little bit, too! 
> 
> Regardless, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the first one. I hope I’m able to do justice to her original writing and I hope it’s not too far off from what everyone wanted. I hope you’ll all enjoy! 
> 
> I tried really hard so I hope everyone likes it :’). Enjoy reading!

Kokichi shot up in the bed and rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t even taken in the surroundings but he knew something was off. The energy, how warm he felt, and...how tall he was?

He looked around the room, fully taking in where he was. It was not his room, it was way too clean to be his. His various pieces of trial evidence he stole, his whiteboard, the mess. All of it was missing and unless someone cleaned his whole room while he was sleeping, he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here. 

He stood up and almost fell over. The height surprised him.  _ Did I finally get my growth spurt?  _ He looked down at his hands, they weren’t as pale as he remembered.  _ What happened? Who’s room am I in? _

The thought that a murder occurred plagued his mind. Maybe he finally killed someone to get out of here and he couldn’t even remember it. 

He stumbled over to the bathroom where he decided to wash his face.  _ I must be dreaming.  _ He thought and bent down to get water from the sink. He tossed his hair over his forehead and practically screamed at the sight in the mirror, 

“Saihara!?” He turned himself around thinking he was standing behind him but when he looked back in the glass, it hit him, 

“I’m in Saihara’s body!” He gasped and grabbed at the skin on his face. 

He growled and banged on the walls of the dorm, “Hey Monokuma! Give me my body back! I happened to like it!” When he got no response he banged louder, “Heyyyy! Answer me!” 

He threw himself onto the bed and sighed heavily. He didn’t want to be in Saihara’s body, he wanted to be anywhere but! He pounded his fists on the plush blankets, almost like a toddler throwing a fit. 

If he switched bodies with Saihara, that means Saihara is in his body. That almost means that Saihara has seen and probably looked through his room. He wanted to punch Monokuma. It was some sort of sick motive, wasn’t it? 

He rolled over and stared at the ceiling. He was so close to figuring out how to end this dumb game and it was ruined. All of it was ruined and now Saihara knew his plans, too. 

Kokichi had no idea what time it was, but it was way after the morning announcement. He forced himself to get out of bed. He realized if he was going to survive through this he would have to put his acting skills to the test. He was going to have to act like Saihara. Like a dense detective. He could do that…, right? 

_ Just act like you have no social skills! That’s easy enough… _ He dragged himself over to the closet and scrunched his face at how his closet literally had no color. It was filled with black long-sleeved shirts and dress pants that matched the top. That was it. 

He laughed when he realized he would have to strip to change clothes but the silence got awkward...even though it was only him in the room. He stared at the shirt in his hand. He noted how violating it felt to be changing into clothes in another person’s body. 

How embarrassing it must be. He thought about what kind of insecurities Saihara might have...specifically about his body. He didn’t want to make him even more insecure about himself or overstep. He knew all too well how that felt. 

He frowned and quickly changed, trying to avoid looking at anything. He didn’t want to make their relationship weird. Just as he finished tying his shoes, someone came knocking on the door. Before he could let them in the door flew open. 

“Hey...bro.” It was Kaito. Kokichi felt like insulting him but quickly remembered he was supposed to be Saihara. 

He waved at Kaito awkwardly and he continued, “Did you hear Monokuma? He wants us in the dining hall for some...announcement.” It was tense. Kaito stood there with his hands by his side and he looked awkward...almost like he didn’t feel like himself. 

Kokichi raised an eyebrow, “An announcement?” He figured it must be about having people wake up in other people's bodies. 

“Yeah. Do you want to walk together?” 

He shook his head, “No it’s ok. I still have to get ready.” Kokichi said before realizing he had already gotten ready. 

Kaito narrowed his eyes, “Um, ok. See ya later then.” He left without even closing the door. Kokichi sighed,  _ That was harder than I thought… _

He figured he should go to the dining hall. If Monokuma wanted them there for an announcement...it must be important. He already knew what it was going to be about but it wouldn’t hurt to show up, right? It was weird though, he never showed up to dining hall meetings. He thought they were lame. If you really wanted information you had to go out and look for it yourself. 

He started for the dining hall. Normally he walked with a bounce in his step but it would be a dead giveaway. Saihara was sad and depressed. He never smiled. He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t Kokichi Ouma, a leader feared nationwide! He was Shuichi Saihara, a lonely, socially inept detective. 

He forced himself to frown as he opened the dining hall door. He was met with stares from his peers. Kaito and Maki stood together outside of the rest of the group. It was awkward. 

“Where is...Ouma?” It was weird saying his own name. 

Iruma sighed audibly, “You know him! He never shows up to these!” She sounded genuinely upset. He noted that maybe he should start showing up. 

It was silent for a little bit, “Um...I’ll go look for him. I don’t think Monokuma will tell us unless we’re all here.” 

Kaito growled, “We don’t need him!” Maki elbowed him, 

“Let Saihara go look. It won’t hurt anyone.” 

He looked away from her and crossed his arms. Kokichi wanted to laugh,  _ So the assassin and space boy were switched, weren’t they? They’re not even trying to act like each other! _ He felt proud he hadn’t been found out yet. At the rate Kaito and Maki were going, it wouldn’t be long. 

He left as quickly as he could. In all honestly, it was draining. Y’know, acting like someone you’re not. He thought it was funny, though because that’s basically what he did all day. He was able to laugh at himself now that he was alone. 

It wasn’t an amused laugh, it was painful. The kind of laugh where you feel so bad that’s all you can do. It was affecting him more than he would like to admit. He didn’t even notice the boy practically running towards him in the hall. He smashed directly into him and fell. 

He stumbled backward but because he was tall, he was able to keep himself from falling. Kokichi - er...the boy pretending to be Kokichi - was knocked straight to the ground. It was weird looking at himself. 

_ Do I really look that crazy...huh. That’s weird… _ He stared at himself longer than he would like to before clearing his throat, “Ouma-kun… You were supposed to be in the dining hall. Now our announcement has been delayed by your absence,” He said coldly, looking down at Kokichi. It was odd, to say the least. He only really saw himself in his reflection. 

He noticed whoever was in his body, who he assumed was Saihara, was trying to find a response. He wanted to laugh at him, all he had to do was act like a child! It was easy. 

He grabbed his wrist before he could respond and dragged him to the dining hall. He decided he would take advantage of pretending to be Saihara, he knew he always wanted Saihara to drag him around like this so- 

He opened the door to the dining hall and tossed the smaller boy inside,  _ Am I really that light?  _

“I’ve got Ouma-kun.” He said as he watched himself stumble. 

“Nishishishi~! I was very busy in the casino!” He cringed at the fake laugh. It sounded just like a horse and since when did he go to the casino? He was far too busy trying to end this killing game and he just thought gambling was stupid in general. He would much rather play crazy 8’s or some card game from his childhood. 

He almost jumped at the Monokubs appearing out of thin air. They did it almost every single time but he still wasn’t used to it. Monophanie basically confirmed what he thought. The body-swap was a motive except only two pairs of people were swapped. 

He already knew who it was. It was him and Saihara and Kaito and Maki. She also explained that if you kill someone while in their body, they will be the culprit but if you get away with it, you get to go home. 

Basically, if Kokichi killed someone in Saihara’s body, Saihara would be the culprit but if Kokichi got away with it, Kokichi got to graduate. It was confusing, to say the least. Not only was the way the murder would work was weird but once someone died, they would go back to normal and we absolutely weren’t allowed to tell anyone we were swapped. 

After the Monokubs left, the tension in the room was thick and untrusting. Each student glared at each other, they had no idea who was who. It was awkward and it felt like they could turn their backs on each other at any moment. 

The fake Kokichi spoke up, “Nishihihi~! I guess everyone’s going to try to find out whose body-swapped with who! While I would love to stay for something so entertaining, I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment!” He cringed at the laugh again.  _ He’s definitely overdoing it.. _

He watched as he rushed to leave the room. Everyone else slowly left, not daring to talk to each other. 

He knew just by how everything was going that this week was going to be weird. The murder case would be confusing and the emotions would run high. Just as he left, he caught a glimpse of fake Kokichi running towards the dorms. 

He decided he didn’t want to confront Shuichi just yet. He strolled around the school looking for something... _ anything  _ to do. 

_ What would Mr. Detective be doing right now?  _ He hadn’t gotten far from the dining hall but he let his legs take him wherever. There wasn’t much to do, after all. The school was boring when there wasn’t an investigation or a trial happening. 

He thought maybe, just maybe he would run into fake Kaito and Maki but he stumbled upon a door he forgot even existed. 

He stared at the handle to the Ultimate Pianists lab. No one had been in here since she was last alive...at least not that Kokichi knew of. 

Everyone realized the true stakes of this killing game when Kaede was outed as the true killer of Rantaro. Kokichi refused to believe she really wanted to kill someone. He wanted to believe she did it for the good of the group but a killer is a killer. 

He entered the cold room. Dust littered the piano and it’s bench. The shelves were filled with music of all kinds and the atmosphere was...surprisingly cheerful. 

Of course, thinking about how this room belongs to someone dead stung. He wasn’t even close to her but it felt like salt being rubbed into an open wound. A wound he didn’t even know existed. 

He interacted with her a couple times and if she was still alive, he liked to think they would be good friends. 

He dusted off the bench with his hand and sat down. He remembered how close Kaede and Saihara seemed to have gotten in just a couple days. He knew how badly her death affected him. 

She motivated all of them...even him. She was the true reason he wanted to end this dumb game. The true reason he was going to end it no matter the cost. 

He hummed a melody that he hoped would please Kaede’s spirit, wherever she happened to be. It was weird, he almost felt her presence in the room with him. 

He smiled softly. He never let his guard down but he decided that just this once he would. He slowly opened the piano’s top and looked at the keys. It was barely used, which made sense. She’d only been alive for a little bit, she’d probably hadn’t even touched this thing. 

He tapped the keys and the notes that came out made him happy. He was never much for playing instruments but that doesn’t mean he didn’t like how they sound. 

He played a couple soft chords. He wasn’t going to say he was good because he was nothing like who the piano truly belonged to. He only played what he could remember his mom teaching him. 

Or was it his mom? Honestly the memory was foggy. He barely remembered anything outside of here but he remembered more than the other students. He kept it to himself, though. 

He sighed. It wasn’t a heavy sigh, it was out of delight. Kokichi didn’t know how long he was in there but he was startled by someone knocking on the door. 

“Wow, Shuichi! I didn’t know you could play.” He practically fell out of the seat. Not only did the knocking scare him but he totally forgot he was in Shuichi’s body. 

He rubbed his head and stood back up. He closed the piano and stared at the figure in the doorway. It was none other than Maki Harukawa. 

He wanted to insult her...again. He wanted to do it so badly but he reminded himself Saihara would never insult her. He was friends with her, he has to do the opposite of make her mad. 

He scratched at his head, “Yeah I know a bit. Kaede taught me.” Those words stung to speak. He felt shitty for lying about something so touchy to Saihara but he didn’t know what else to say. 

Maki nodded, “It was beautiful. I’m sure Kaede would be proud.” He was genuinely surprised. Maki would never give  _ Kokichi  _ a compliment like that. 

It was silent for a bit. Kokichi cut the silence, “So who do you think is body swapped?” He was genuinely curious to see her reaction. 

She looked taken aback, “Why do you ask? It’s not like I was swapped with anyone!” 

He laughed, “Right. Because it’s not like you’ve been dying to call me bro this whole time.” He laughed yet again at Maki’s surprised face.

“How did you...how did you guess that?” 

“I’m a  _ detective. _ I wasn’t born yesterday!” He felt proud of himself for not giving his identity away but then he remembered he was talking to the dumbest person out of their group. 

“Do you want to die?” He gave a terrible impression of the true assassin, it only made him laugh  _ more _ . 

“Listen, Kaito.” He couldn’t remember if Saihara used his given name or not but he just rolled with it, “I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I wouldn’t out my friends like that.” He was almost disgusted at how accurate he sounded to the true Saihara...and even more disgusted that Kaito believed it. 

Kaito looked awkward in Maki’s body now that Kokichi got a good look at him. He looked like he didn’t know what to do. Like he was an outlier. 

It was funny to think Kaito got switched into a girls body.  _ Must suck for him!  _

Then he realized what weird thoughts Kaito must be having and it grossed him out. It was a straight man in a girl's body.  _ Gross.  _

Kokichi sat back down on the Piano bench. 

“Hey..I’m sorry she’s...y'know.” The fake Maki tried to console him. He really thought it was the real Shuichi? 

He slowly moved his hand across the top, “It’s not your fault...she did what she thought had to be done.” And that wasn’t him speaking as Saihara. That’s what he really thought. 

He admired her to an extent and he was truly disappointed she was the one who kicked off this mess. He shook his head, “I miss her, that’s true. But she would want us to move on and get through this, so let’s do it! What do you say?” 

He moved to give Kaito er...Maki a handshake. It made no difference, he didn’t want to be buddy buddy with either of them but here he was, touching an assassins hand. The last thing he wanted to do...ever. 

They shook hands and parted ways. Kokichi decided enough was enough for today and left for his dorm. He instinctively went to his door but remembered it would be weird if he just walked in there. As he made his way to Saihara’s door he watched Iruma leave his real room. 

He glared at her,  _ What is that skank up to?  _

It would be weird if he confronted her right here, in the middle of the dorm area. He watched her leave and go to the main building of the school. She was probably heading to the computer room. 

He didn’t want to deal with that. He would just ask Saihara why he let her in the room. He had a headache and wanted to take a nap, in all honesty. 

He thought naps were for losers but the amount of energy you needed to pretend to be an emo was a lot. 

Before he even knew it, the night time announcement rang.  _ Oh. I missed dinner.  _ He frowned but it wasn’t like he stayed and talked with them anyways. 

He went to the bathroom and was surprised to find himself in Saihara’s body, and then remembered the events from today. He groaned and felt like throwing another fit. 

Kaito flung the door open. “Work out with us.” He said, with absolutely no emotion.  _ Yep. That’s Maki.  _

He fake yawned, “I don’t feel that good. And no offense but with the recent motive...I don’t really trust anyone. Sorry, bro!” He cringed at the use of bro.  _ Why would anyone say that?  _

He still walked towards him, “You’re coming. No arguments.” Kokichi swiftly dodged the lackluster attempt at grabbing his arm. 

“Kaito, I think you should be the one focused on working out! You’re getting a little slow!” He teased. It wasn’t something Shuichi would say but anything to piss Maki off. 

He was grabbed at again but pushed him out of the room, “I said I didn’t want to work out! Can’t you respect a no? Or do you need to work on that, too?” 

He slammed the door in fake Kaito’s face before he could argue and laughed. It felt nice to act like himself again but he totally gave it away. 

He waited until he felt safe enough to emerge from his room and walked over to the one he was supposed to be in. The one he  _ would  _ be in if it wasn’t for the dumb Monokubs. He was honestly glad one got killed off every trial. He thought they were annoying. 

He knocked on the door. Hopefully Saihara would be awake and they would be able to talk. They needed to. It would be weird if they didn’t talk about it because...well he kind of stole his body. 

It didn’t take long for the door to creak open, fake Kokichi peaked out from behind it. He pushed passed him and smiled at the familiarity of the room. 

He looked around and made sure nothing had been moved and smiled even bigger when nothing was messed with. He turned to the smaller boy, closing the door. 

He started to speak but noticed how frail and weak he had looked. He frowned. He noticed how sick and neglected his body looked. He was so caught up in his investigation that he...kind of forgot to take care of himself. 

“Shumai! I didn’t know you were going to visit me this late at night~!” The fake him said. He groaned, 

“Give it up, Saihara. You’re a terrible me anyways. I would’ve much rather had Iruma switch with me. She gets my sense of humor.” He complained. 

“You know?” His attitude changed completely. It was weird. 

“Of course I know! I knew before Monokuma even said anything!” 

“Oh...it took me a while to figure out what happened.” He looked at Saihara. He looked...embarrassed? Like he felt dumb? He decided to cut back on his attitude a bit. 

He sighed, “Listen, I wasn’t lying about you being a terrible actor. Especially when you’re acting like me-“ 

“I can’t be that bad.” 

“Don’t interrupt me.” He continued, “I have never  _ ever  _ let anyone in my room, let alone my body.” He laughed at his own joke but he noticed Saihara didn’t find it funny in the slightest. 

“Ok. Fine I’ll be serious...party pooper.” He mumbled. Saihara shot him a look but let Kokichi keep talking, “You can’t tell  _ anyone  _ what you’ve seen here. It’s very important and private to me and I swear I’ll make your life hell if this gets out. I have something planned and it’s already getting ruined because of this stupid motive.” 

He looked curious, “It has something to do with this whiteboard, doesn’t it?” 

He forgot entirely that Saihara still possessed his inquisitive nature. He hated how he had clearly gone through his room...but maybe he could finally talk to someone about this. Maybe he could start taking care of himself again. 

He glanced at the whiteboard and the words written underneath Saihara’s picture.  _ He’s seen that...hasn’t he?  _ It read: 

**Trustworthy ?**

Without even thinking he moved his body around the mess and erased the question mark from the word. He looked at it after it was done,  _ Why did I do that..?  _

Saihara gasped, “You...trust me?” 

“Yeah. I guess I do…” They shared a moment of silence before Kokichi went back to his antics, “Why did you let Iruma in my room! I didn’t want a whore like her in here, either!” 

“She just barged in! I swear I didn’t  _ let  _ her in here.” Saihara shook his hands, trying to defend himself. 

Kokichi got lost in his thoughts, “I bet she knows. She wouldn’t barge in here, otherwise. She knows I would’ve beat her up or teased her or something.” 

“How could she know?” 

“Dude…did you hear yourself? You overdid it on the laugh and you sounded exactly like a  _ horse. _ ” 

“Isn’t that...what you sound like?” Saihara was trying to be careful with his words. 

Kokichi rolled his eyes, “Yeah. A horse..” _ Do I really sound like a horse?  _ He subconsciously made a note to fix his laugh. 

They talked for a bit. It wasn’t much, just friendly chit chat. It wasn’t like they’d never talked to each other before they swapped bodies. It was just Saihara with Kokichi’s personality and Kokichi with Saihara’s personality now. 

Kokichi actually realized he was having...fun? That he enjoyed the conversations, no matter how insignificant they seemed. Usually their interactions consisted of one hundred rounds of Rock Paper Scissors or the Knife game (which...he was still a  _ little  _ upset he messed up). 

They interacted in trials, too, but of course it was under unfavorable circumstances. He was happy to be having a one on one conversation with him. No games, no catches...lives aren’t on the line. It’s just him and Saihara. Him and his dumpling. 

He laughed in his head at the nickname  _ Shumai. _ He did it to tease Kaito. Since Kaito and Maki had grown closer, he started giving her a gross nickname... _ Maki roll.  _ He parodied it and gave Saihara the nickname Shumai, which translates to dumpling. 

He thought it was funny at first, and he did it to tease Kaito. He did it to make him think he was close enough to Saihara to give him a disgusting nickname, too. The more he actually used it, the more he wished it wasn’t a joke. The more he wished he could actually call him Shumai, and everyone would know he was serious about it. 

He shook his head  _ But we’re in a killing game. That’s stupid.  _

“Kokichi, are you ok?” Saihara asked, reaching out a hand to him, like he was genuinely concerned. 

He nodded, “I’m fine...just thinking!” He reassured him. 

. 

.

.

“Wait? Kokichi? You called me Kokichi?” He didn’t notice it at first, but Saihara really had called him by his first name. You usually didn’t do that unless you were close or you respected them or something. Did he really think they were close enough to do that? 

Saihara scratched his head, Kokichi noticed he did that a lot, “Ah...I hope that’s ok..” he looked like he regretted using his first name. 

“No! It’s fine!” He paused…”I can call you Shuichi now, right?” 

It was weird asking his body if he could call him Shuichi. It was wrong on so many levels. 

“Yeah! Only if you want to though…” 

Kokichi tapped his finger to his chin, “I think I’ll call you Shumai!” 

It almost looked like Shuichi was blushing and he laughed. The blush deepened. 

It was getting late but Kokichi didn’t want to leave. Not because it was his room...well that was partly it but because he was enjoying his time with Shuichi. 

They had gotten closer, it felt like. It felt like he really was trustworthy. He just hoped that it would turn out that way. 

In all honesty, (rare coming from him.) he really only erased the question mark as a show for Shuichi. To give him some hope...y’know? But that doesn’t mean he’s not  _ going  _ to be trustworthy! He had a feeling that his Shumai would end up being his one and only friend in this twisted game.

“Good night, Shumai~! I’ll see you in the morning!” He waved as he walked to his own room. He had no idea what time it was but it was certainly late. 

He didn’t want to leave. Like he said, he felt like he had grown closer with him and he wished they could talk for... _ forever.  _ He actually enjoyed the conversations with the boy, no matter how insignificant they seemed, he felt listened to and understood. 

He smiled. He had smiled a lot that day.  _ Maybe I should smile more…  _

He didn’t even remember going to sleep but he was awoken by the morning announcement? 

No. It was far from Monokuma telling them to wake up. 

The four chimes seemed to drag out for minutes and finally Monokuma appeared on the screen. It was almost like he was staring directly at Kokichi. Like the words were directed towards him specifically. 

“A body has been discovered!” His voice sang. 

Kokichi’s heart sank faster than it ever had before. He had a bad feeling about this one...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really quick, if you enjoyed this chapter and my writing, I write a D.I.C.E AU called “Double Agent Of Love.” If you want to read another thing by me, please consider checking it out :)
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/25785907/chapters/62629195
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and supporting this fanfic! We appreciate you all so so so much. <3

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!
> 
> Edit: noturprxtxg will probably be taking over this whole fic ahahhahahaha (or collaborating im bad at keeping up with fics my bad)


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